American Studies Commons^™

Fight Like A Ya Girl: Fourth Wave Feminism, Defense, And Weaponization Through The Lens Of Object Relations, Amanda Blakeman

Honors Theses

This thesis will discuss how the genre of Young Adult (YA) fiction, more specifically Fantasy YA fiction, reflects the major goals and objectives of fourth wave feminism, ultimately arguing for the need for more intersectional representation in heroine characters. YA Fantasy fiction consistently features a strong heroine in both spirit and body, one who uses weapons to take on systems of injustice in their respective worlds, from systematic child murder to modern slavery. What and how, then, are these books teaching the next generation about feminism? I attempt to answer this question with this thesis, looking at three YA female …

Analyzing The Mutability Of Oral And Digital Media, Bennett Bowden

Honors Theses

This project takes the analyses of Walter Ong and synthesizes conclusions about the likelihood of different mediums to encourage change in artifacts over time. The mediums explored ar et eh oral and the digital, with two heavily studied works being examined as representatives of each. This study found much higher mutability of artifacts within digital media due to its likelihood to encourage cooperative creative behavior, and further study would be extremely helpful to the field.

Art And Aids: Viral Strategies For Visibility, Stephen Baylor Pillow

Honors Theses

“Art & AIDS: Viral Strategies for Visibility” examines the complex relationships between social stigma, healthcare, homophobia, and mortality, and how these impacted the lives of Western artists and manifested in their works. Most of the art discussed in this thesis was produced during the height of the AIDS crisis (late-1980s to mid-1990s). During this period, gay artists and their allies employed new strategies in their work to inspire activism, and convey intense emotions –– predominantly frustration, grief, and anxiety –– associated with HIV/AIDS. In the U.S., the inaction of the Reagan administration was largely due to widespread homophobia kindled by …

Country Fun: A Cultural History Of Opryland Usa, Nashville, And The Suburban South, William C. Nieman

Honors Theses

This thesis centers around the history of Opryland USA, a theme park and “musical showplace” that existed from 1972 to 1997 in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee. Using a variety of primary sources including park ephemera, newspaper articles, and songs, I show how, over its twenty-five years, Opryland became a country music theme park after initially presenting a seemingly diverse picture of American popular music. I reveal that, despite local businessowners’ and musicians’ reluctance to embrace Opryland at first, the park was accepted by many Nashvillians to the point where it is now nostalgically mourned. Then, putting those primary materials …

Something Punny To Precede The Colon: Marking Whiteness And Exploring Blackness In Standup Comedy, Andrew Destaebler

Honors Theses

The general goal of this project is to investigate strategies and approaches used by comedians who rely heavily on racial humor in their acts. To do so, I consider the work of Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, and Dave Chappelle, all African American male comedians. The first chapter focuses on a strategy employed by all three of these comedians called “marking whiteness.” Greta Fowler Snyder coined this term in her essay, “‘Marking Whiteness’ For Cross-Racial Solidarity” (2015), and uses it to describe strategies that force the “hyper-visibility” of whiteness. This happens through the portrayal of “average” white behavior, with the understanding …

Lions, And Dragons, And Wolves (Oh My): A Study Of The Series "Game Of Thrones" And Political Theory, Emily Manus

Honors Theses

Game of Thrones has a reputation for being unpredictable. Fans watch in anticipation as their beloved characters face dangerous situations, not knowing if they will make it our alive or not. No character is safe. While this reputation, may lead one to think that there is no way to know what characters will do and how they will react to certain circumstances, if one looks at them through the sphere of political theory and ethics, one can possibly piece together what actions characters will take and what outcome these actions could possibly have. Looking at the characters through these lenses …

The Rise And Fall Of Gilmore Girls' Feminist Legacy, Mckenna Ahlgren

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the feminist legacy that the television series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007, 2016) built during its original airtime and how its later revival diminished that legacy. Gilmore Girls’ main characters are three generations of women within the Gilmore family, providing a unique opportunity to analyze their feminist identities and characterizations relative to different iterations of feminism. This paper examines how the youngest Gilmore, Rory, is influenced by her mother’s and grandmother’s embodiments of feminism. Their expressions of femininity and sexuality, their approaches to motherhood, and their behaviors in their romantic relationships throughout the series correlate with the predominate feminism …

African-American Poetry, Music, And Politics, Tyler H. Macdonald

Honors Theses

The 2016 decision to award songwriter and musician Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature sparked a worldwide debate on the relationship between music and poetry and raised many questions about music’s place in literary canon. However, this debate is nothing new. Questions about the relationship between music and poetry have long been debated. Some scholars believe the two disciplines should be studied separately, while others prefer to consider the connections between the two.

My project begins with a question: if Bob Dylan’s songs can be considered poetry, what other forms of music might also be considered poetry? Rap implements …

Twice Upon A Time: The Retellings Of Fairy Tales For Contemporary Audiences, Morgan Howard

Honors Theses

If anyone had seen me binge-watching ABC's Once Upon a Time (a television adaptation of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and more) during my freshman year of college, they undoubtedly would have said I was wasting my time. In fact, I probably would have agreed with them--there were far better things for a busy English and mass communications double major to do in her free time. I didn't realize then that I was actually in the process of developing what would become my research passion for the next four years.

For my final research essay in Composition 1, …

From Woody Guthrie To The Big Muddy: The Evolution Of Political Music In America From World War I To The Late 1960s, Alexander B. Kouwenhoven

Honors Theses

Throughout the course of American history, music has served as a vital cultural mode for the expression and articulation of the collective American experience. Perhaps the most iconic connection between music and politics in American history occurred during the 1960s in the era of the counterculture and the Vietnam War. During this period, rock ‘n’ roll musicians became the figureheads for the Anti-War campaign and represented the political objectives of the New Left. However, the iconic status of these political musicians did not arise in a vacuum. These musicians, and their political importance in America can trace its origins to …

American Popular Culture, Politics, And Comedy: How Saturday Nigh Live Delivers The "News", Jillian Callanan

Honors Theses

Saturday Night Live has delved into the realm of politics throughout its forty-one seasons as a means of generating humor through satirical and parodical representations of politicians. This thesis explores Saturday Night Live during election years in particular, when the show generates a great deal of its content from the surrounding political atmosphere to comment on the issues at hand in a way that most often contrasts the style of reporting done by traditional hard news programs. The increasing role of entertainment in news delivery sheds light on the blurred lines between news and entertainment news, and this thesis will …

Caesars And Corleones: Augustan Rome And The Godfather, Edythe Malara

Honors Theses

What do The Godfather and the Roman Empire have in common? This thesis will compare the Augustan period of the Roman Empire and Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Themes such as power, religion, family, and morality play a large role in The Godfather as well as in the life of Augustus. Even the personal character of Augustus seems to parallel the character of Don Vito Corleone. First, a historical background is provided about Augustus, the empire he ran, and how he ran it. I examine excerpts from famous authors of antiquity such as Suetonius, Cassius Dio, and Horace. I also …

A Critical Study Of The African-American Comedic Tradition, Allison Longo

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the changes in African-American comedy during the 1980s. In exploring the changes during this decade, specific attention is paid to Eddie Murphy, who achieved incredible success beginning with his 1980 entrance on Saturday Night Live. In a relatively short period of time, Murphy was able to ascend to a level of cultural significance that far dwarfed that reached by any of the African American comedians who had preceded him. Through a comprehensive presentation of the historical development of African American humor, the following thesis challenges the consensus critical assumption that Murphy both consciously forewent opportunities to be …

The Impact Of The Civil Rights Movement On The Advertising Industry, Alexandra B. Bosarge

Honors Theses

Racism has a history in the United States of America that is also manifested in popular culture. Advertising is included in this idea of popular culture. This thesis focused on the advertising industry and the attempt of that industry to use African Americans to sell products to people. The aim of this study was to determine whether or not the Civil Rights Movement affected the way the advertising industry used images of African Americans for marketing purposes. A sample of advertisements was obtained from a newspaper and magazines in order to further analyze the hypothesis. This study contributes to the …

Women And Watchmen: Opening Alan Moore's Refrigerator, Sally Ferguson

Honors Theses

Zack Snyder's film adaption of Watchmen was my first exposure to the rabid side of the comic book enthusiasts. During that year, I took tottering steps towards comic books and superheroes, but the clamor of frenzied supporters of the film battling zealous purists nearly blew me off my feet. Alan Moore--the name reverberated through the internet and spilled onto the sidewalks in front of the movie theater. I pondered the identity of this individual for an infinitesimal amount of time before contenting myself with Batman for a few years. Years later, various enthusiasts were singing his praises to me, …

From The Middle Ages To Modernity: The Intersecting Supernatural Worlds Of Melusine And Today's Popular Culture, Sarah Stark

Honors Theses

While some may scoff at fairy tales as juvenile, primitive, or superstitious, they have always held a special fascination for me, and I am not alone in this- stories about magicians, monsters, and mythical creatures have captivated their audiences' imaginations for thousands of years. Feeling myself consistently drawn toward this type of story, I began several months ago to study supernatural tales from the medieval era as well as those popular today, and I have since discovered numerous worlds in which the natural and supernatural coexist. Creatures seemingly human are, in fact, sometimes more-or less, depending on one's perspective. Families …

Consumed By Faith: The Development Of Christian Fundamentalism And Its Applications In Contemporary Society, Laura M. Gagne

Honors Theses

My research aims to understand how and why fundamentalists justify violence against people who do not fit their profile of "righteous" or "saved" persons, such as abortion doctors and clinic workers, gays and lesbians, and Jews. The first section of this paper travels through the history of fundamentalism since its origins in the British and American apocalipticism, or belief in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. However, my history of Protestant Fundamentalism in the United States will focus on the ways in which Fundamentalism developed in response to many changes in American social structure. I interpret Fundamentalism as an anti-modern …